Wood Fuel Procurement to Bioenergy Facilities: Analysis of Moisture Content Variability and Optimal Sampling Strategy

Moisture content is the most relevant quality parameter for wood fuels. Effective and fastdetermination of moisture of incoming feedstock is essential in the management of bioenergy facilities. The availability of fast and reliable moisture meters based on innovative technologies simplifies this task. However, in Mediterranean conditions the inherent variability of wood fuels calls fora careful sampling strategy if representative results are required while facing acceptable analyticcosts. The present study is aimed at measuring the fuel heterogeneity and defining accordingly theappropriate number of samples to be analyzed in order to get reliable moisture-content results. Atotal of 70 truckloads (about 2270 t of woodchips) were sampled during commercial operations intwo different seasons. Five samples were collected from each load and measured with standardmethod and magnetic resonance gauge. Results show that the variability of moisture content is influenced by mixing of species and storage of biomass. Heterogeneity can vary greatly also withinsingle truckloads, to the point that three samples are needed to achieve about 90% of estimateswithin the desired precision limits. In the case of larger lots, such as barge or ship loads, 20 samplescan provide sufficient precision in most scenarios.